Expressing interest in attending a school doesn't equate with demand either unfortunately. The same families could have expressed interest in lots of other schools. Wishes and wants are not needs.

Its also not clear whether these 130 families were local or not, (which to an extent would be difficult as your school did not have a defined location and hence could have been at the other end of the borough for many people) and if not, there could have been an imported demand which would have put more pressure on the existing situation, not alleviate it.

And expressing interest doesn't necessarily translate into an application particularly as it would mean someone foregoing a place at a state school, perhaps the state school of their choice, in order to take up a place at yours. It would have been quite a gamble for that family to do so.

The entire concept and approach was and is flawed. The process has become tougher and rightly so as its not something which should be lightly undertaken however for me and other local parents I know, there is nothing that currently provides a better alternative to the current state system, and the many schools locally that are providing our children with the wonderful education they deserve and require and deserve the support of local parents. We do not therefore need to play 'Fantasy Schools';the real ones are so much better , but the current governments attempts to pretend otherwise are shameful.